If you’ve been in the remodeling industry long enough, you’ve heard the phrase “overanalysis leads to paralysis.” And if you’re working to grow or professionalize your remodeling business, you might be feeling that firsthand. One process turns into five. A simple checklist becomes a six-tab spreadsheet. You build systems to solve problems, but somehow those systems become the problem. Now, don’t get me wrong—I believe in systems. I’ve built much of my career helping companies document, clarify, and implement processes that protect profit and improve performance. But lately I’m seeing something important that needs to be said: you don’t need perfect systems; you need usable systems. Not the kind that look polished on paper, but the kind your team can actually follow under pressure, in real time, with real clients. Systems should create freedom, not friction. They should support the people doing the work, not slow them down with layers of approval and complexity. Most companies don’t set out to over-process themselves. They grow, chaos creeps in, and the instinct is to tighten things up. Leadership documents workflows, builds forms, standardizes everything. But eventually, the structure meant to help becomes something heavy. Every decision needs approval. Every small change requires a form. People who once felt empowered now feel boxed in—and the company slows to a crawl. This is where we need to remember a principle I lean on often: systemize the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional. The predictable parts—onboarding, pre-construction, selections, handoffs—absolutely need structure. But the exceptional parts—the problem-solving, the trust-building, the way you make clients feel heard—need space. If your systems are so rigid there’s no room for humanity, you’ve built the wrong kind of system. This is where the 80/20 rule becomes powerful. In almost every remodeling business, 20% of your systems drive 80% of your results. A solid change order process, a clean handoff between design/sales and production, accurate job cost reviews, and reliable selection tracking—these are the systems that protect margin, timeline, and client trust. If those are strong, the rest can evolve. But too often, teams spend time perfecting internal forms no one reads or building approval processes for trivial decisions. Energy gets poured into the wrong places. The question becomes: Are we investing in what truly matters? That’s where the idea of a minimum viable process comes in. Just like a minimum viable product, this is about building a system that’s structured enough to work but simple enough to use. One-page SOPs beat 20-page manuals. Lean checklists beat flowcharts. The goal isn’t to process-size everything—it’s to give your team the clarity they need without crushing them under complexity. Here’s a great filter: If a process doesn’t create clarity, save time, or reduce risk, it’s probably adding noise, not value. And remember, systems evolve. What works for three jobs a month won’t work for ten. But simplicity makes evolution easier. At some point, process alone isn’t what keeps a business on track—the habits do. You can have beautifully written SOPs, but if your team isn’t living them, they’re just words on a page. Companies gain real traction through small, repeatable behaviors: daily huddles to align the team, weekly reviews to prevent jobs from drifting, quick written confirmations to eliminate misunderstandings, and a culture where people feel empowered to improve systems instead of living with broken ones. Lightweight systems backed by strong habits will always outperform heavyweight systems no one uses. In remodeling, more structure doesn’t automatically equal better results. The right structure, combined with the right habits and the right focus, is what actually moves you forward. A simple system your team follows will outperform a complex system they avoid, every single time. So here’s my challenge to you: choose one process in your business that feels heavy—maybe a form no one completes, a report no one reads, or a meeting that lost its purpose. Ask yourself what the real goal of that process is, what the minimum version looks like, and how you can trim it without losing impact. Then simplify it and test it. In the end, we’re not building systems for the sake of systems. We’re building them to support people, protect profit, and create great outcomes—consistently, clearly, and sustainably.